Finke To Goldstein: Do The Write Thing

Patrick, you and I are longtime pals. We like each other personally. But professionally we usually find ourselves on the opposite sides of the Hollywood spectrum. You rarely write about a mogul or exec you don’t like. I rarely write about a mogul or exec I like. You think the movie business is about art. I think the movie business is about money. Usually, we coexist peacefully. But not this week. Not after that venomous screed you wrote in the Los Angeles Times yesterday berating Patric Verrone as if he’s to blame for all the ups and downs of the pre-strike and post-strike negotiations when certain moguls showed themselves to be lying scum only pretending to bargain in order to embarrass the WGA leadership in the eyes of members (a ploy which didn’t work). Have you not been reading what I’ve written these many months? Have you not been doing your own reporting? Or do you just transcribe what the CEOs tell you? Yes, I know that, as a former music writer, the Grammys are important to you. But to have that one issue color your thinking to such a degree that you can only see the DGA deal through rose-colored glasses is a sell-out to writers who have spent months striking to expand their residual system to New Media so future generations can benefit. This is their fight. Not yours. Not mine.

Worse, you have the effrontery to compare Verrone to Yasser Arafat. On what planet? I’ve actually covered world issues as a foreign correspondent for AP and Washington correspondent for Newsweek as well as reported on labor issues around the world, and I would never dream of comparing Hollywood strike talks to Mideast negotiations. Your journalism background is showbiz. Do you really feel qualified to express such an uninformed international affairs opinion as that?

I also find it incomprehensible why you are pushing the WGA to accept the DGA deal on the grounds that it’s a “good” deal. Good for whom? These are two different guilds with two different agendas. What might be right for one could also be wrong for the other, as it is in this case. Tonight, I’ll opine about the DGA deal and how Verrone et al might use it as a basis for a quick settlement. But the reality is that’s possible if, and only if, the moguls will stop punishing the scribes for striking in the first place. You are wrong to even suggest that in this struggle the WGA is bullying. That’s the well-documented tactic of the Big Media corporations. So don’t blame one side without trashing the other, too. You and I are veteran journalists: we both know facts are more important than opinion. Stop shilling.

92 Comments

Ya know Nikki, if you keep opining like this, you just might make a fan [of yours] out of me yet.

Michelle G • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Thanks for calling him out on this, Nikki.

Goldstein in the LA Times went after Verrone for not negotiating with the AMPTP after the DGA deal was finished, and yet it was announced over the weekend that talks were starting again today (and nowhere did he mention that its up to the AMPTP to restart negotiations as they’re the ones who walked away from the bargaining table 45 days ago.) Thus, even though it was common knowledge talks were starting up again, he chose to reinforce the AMPTP’s image of the WGA leadership as unreasonable. Thanks!

Then he quoted the letter by former WGA president John Wells. The same John Wells who in his producer duties forced his “West Wing” writers to not take their contracted promotions while he was still president of the Guild. John, sadly, long ago gave up on caring about the average writer, and yet Goldstein quoted him as representing the voice of most of the Guild membership. Wells’ telling the whole town that this whole thing should be over in two weeks put Patrick in a terrible place. Once again making him look unreasonable if he fails to achieve this almost impossible goal.

The truth is no one has read the full DGA deal yet and the DGA membership has yet to even approve it (although I’m sure they will.) It could be a fantastic deal for DGA members, and hopefully one for WGA and SAG members too.

But remember that 60% of the DGA membership never gets a direct residual payment (all your ADs, 2nd ADs, UPMs, etc.) And that the a-list and b-list directors who run their union all get profit participation in any project they work on. The TV directors and first time directors who do indeed need residuals have no voice in the DGA. On the other hand, ALL the members of SAG and the WGA get residuals and except for a select few (less than 1%) they need that money to boost their income or more commonly to get them through the lean times when they’re not being paid for their writing/acting. It’s those residual payments that allow writers to work on projects unpaid that they eventually sell and become the big hits for the networks (Marc Cherry lived cheaply off his residuals for years before creating and selling “Desperate Housewives.) So yes, the DGA deal might be good for writers too, but given the DGA doesn’t care about residuals very much, it might not be.

Instead of John Wells, why didn’t Goldstein quote the letter by Paul Haggis that has been circulating? (Or at least printing both to show there’s two sides.) Why didn’t he come down to the picket line today and see generations of writers and quite a lot of actors still out there picketing even after all this time? All that I spoke to out there today were hopeful the DGA agreement will lead to movement, but hardly naive enough to think that what works for the DGA will fit the needs of the WGA and SAG. No one out there said we should immediately take this deal that no one has even read and sign it (this included the hotheads who want to keep striking forever and those (the majority) who want a reasonable deal even if it means not getting everything we want.) The only issue there was a lot of debate over was about “Juno” being nominated for best picture.

Now what Goldstein wrote about the Grammy’s, I thought was well argued and his sensible outlook is the one the Guild has adopted. That’s because the Guild leadership is reasonable and cautious, and not doing what Goldstein and Wells are advising — endorsing a deal without reading it. Especially since when they finally get to look at the details it may in fact turn out to be a rollback for their membership and all those who follow. And if its bad for the WGA, it’s bad for SAG too. And that means even if the WGA accepted it immediately without reading it like Goldstein advised, the whole town will still be back on strike in June. On the other hand if they read the deal, build on the promising movement, find a happy comprpmise that neither side loves but can live with, then we can all get back to work (hopefully immediately.)

Mordecai • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

What she said.

Johnny • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

It’s “illing,” Nikki, not “shilling,” lol…

Harley • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Right you are. Goldstein has been good on tech/entrepreneurial issues in the past, but this read as if it had been dictated by Chris Lehane. The Arafat smear (truly beyond the pale), the idea that the emails he’s received from cranky writers prove a schism in the Guild (data is apparently the plural of anecdote), and the airy certainty that this is indeed a good deal worth accepting– without a single attempt to prove or justify the opinion.

Laughable stuff, and even moreso given the Guild’s decision not to picket the Grammies.

Joseph • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Patrick Goldstein is a good journalist trapped at a media dinosaur and shit-purveyor and this good journalist has now acquired the splendid aroma of the crapola his employer tries to foist off on its readers. Next stop for Patrick Goldstein that shit-purveyor of shit-purveyors — Daily Variety. And there he might even run into Jake Hollywood.

Connecticut Yankee • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

You rock, Nik! You truly do.

Novelist • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Thank you Nikki. I was so upset by that article and I had no vent for my frustration over the lying and misinformation in it. Thank you for reading my mind. Thank you for being the voice of reason and thank you for your fight against the powers that be.

The Grizz • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

So says the mouthpiece for the WGA.

I quit accepting this site as being unobjective around Christmas Eve, when you fell for that big AMTPM ploy. And now you use phrases like “Shitty DGA Deal” out of hand. I’m getting really sick of your high-handed attitude and the slavish, nearly robotic reaction of the WGA loyalists who follow.

Tell the Below-the-Liners who aren’t making ends meet — I barely am earning enough to survive now — about bullying. If this DGA template doesn’t work, the ire is going to be turned away from the studios — who totally fucking deserve it — to the building on Third and Fairfax.

BRian • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

You are the bomb, Nikki!

BTW – Everyone is running around telling the WGA to ” take the deal” and one fact is constantly left out: The AMPTP has not offered the deal to the WGA yet.

Great writing, Nikki! I found Goldstein’s column to be unprofessional. It seems that some people have gotten tired writing about the strike (hey, who’s not?) and want it settled simply so they can write about something else. The only problem is, there are real problems in the DGA deal, and real issues to resolve. So sorry, Patrick. It might go on a bit longer.

T. Martin • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Wow, were we reading the same article? “Venomous screed?” Personally, I thought the article pointed out the obvious as far as it not looking good for the WGA to picket the Grammys, especially as NARAS was ready to go to war over it and they already had big names lined up who were going to attend regardless. As far as the DGA deal, all I know is that it seems to have brought the WGA and the producers back to the table, and that’s all I care about. Hopefully both sides see that at this point that the idea of “scoring points” on either side is detrimental to actually putting the town back to work. Not all writers see the deal in the same light as you do, Nikki.

reelbusy • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

I was shocked by his (Goldstein’s) column this week. It made me feel he has no grip about how this business really works. Shocking.

Nicholas Eckert • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

I’m not sure if LA Weekly has a policy regarding this, but that’s clearly an open letter that needs to be in print. Seeing as Variety has run full-page ads of these things in the past (see the forward of Roger Ebert’s book, “Your Movie Sucks”), I’d see if you can get that one printed on paper in large print.

HUh? • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

As I commented on United Hollywood…

The Los Angeles Times isn’t a newspaper. It’s a mega-conglomerate newsletter.

I keep saying to myself that I won’t be shocked by any of these “journalists” anymore, but I still am after reading Goldstein’s column early this morning. He’s really telling Patric Verrone to get back to the table? REALLY? How is that possible? Verrone’s been at the table since July. Has Goldstein been in a coma for the past three months? Does he sniff his ink cartridges? Maybe they threatened to harm his mom? I think the only logical explanation – How much cash was in that blank, bulky envelope Goldstein found on his doorstep?

We will vote on a deal when it is presented to us. If it’s good, it’ll pass. If it’s bad, it won’t. We just have to make sure that we follow what we want and not bow down to pressure from the media, our families and folks like Gavin Palone.

We never left the table, they did. We never wanted this strike, they did. Stay united, stay strong, and we’ll get a good deal.

CM • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

Regarding the tone of the talks, specifically as exemplified in Patrick Goldtein’s “Do the Right Thing,” in LA Times today:

As I am not a journalist, I cannot speak to Patrick Goldstein’s necessary allegiances nor to the comprehensiveness of his business expertise. His opinion of “rightness” is essential to his editorial function. For myself, as a reader, and a member of WGA, I can only say that he has caught exactly the patronizing tone of the business — a la Peter Bart, he speaks as a grownup, which I have never found to be of much use in writing.

As a writer, I only note the rhetorical obviousness of quoting at length the (purported) opposition, only to demur at the end. In the long tradition of Marc Antony (the Roman one) and Mike Huckabee (“Let me show you this negative commercial before I deplore it”), Goldstein’s self-congratulatory “Not me” was not persuasive.

But seriously troubling was Mr. Goldstein’s (I hope)inadvertent introduction of explosive cultural issues via his use of Abba Eban’s quote about Yassir Arafat. The analogy assigns by connotation the producers as the Jewish state and the writers as the Palestinians. Does Mr. Goldstein intend to reinforce cliches about the business which need no spelling out? Is he suggesting Patric Verrone is an incompetent terrorist? This overblown allusion is not only offensive, it suggests a weak journalist’s last refuge — a late night, unconsidered bout with Bartlett’s.

On the picket line, I have also been disheartened to hear writers calling for respect. Not only will they not get it, they shouldn’t want it from the people they’re asking it from.

This strike is not about the Middle East or the appearance of respect. It is about money. Whatever the “right thing” turns out to be, I hope Mr. Goldstein will grant both sides their seriousness about it, a seriousness reflected in the latest WGA announcement.

CM

Jan 22

Non-showbiz observers • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

You tell ’em, Nikki! Nikki Finke is awesome.

As neutral observers, these media CEO’s are a gang of emotional, incompetent demons.

We fully support the WGA’s cause and dearly hope it doesn’t submit to AMPTP’s transparent manipulations, and holds firm to it terms. You’ve come so far, make it count.

This country is fed up with grotesquely overpaid CEO’s rewarded for failure and corruption.

We’re fed up with faux-journalists who immorally do the bidding of these corporations under the guise of truth.

You should all learn something from Nikki about reporting.

scribefire • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

bravissimo!

Anonymous • on Jan 22, 2008 4:47 pm

NIKKI. I LIKE YOU. YOU ARE COOL. BUT PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE SHUT THE FUCK UP.